


They Deserve Better Drabble Collection

by sebastian2017



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Beaches, Blankets, Canon Disabled Character, Canon Jewish Character, Cuddles, Drabble Collection, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Erik is a Sweetheart, Fireplaces, First Kiss, Halloween, Kittens, M/M, Puppies, Road Trip, dadneto, sunset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-10 19:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 8,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20856812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: A collection of ficlets for the prompts from They Deserve Better Cherik Challenge.1. Puppies2. Kittens3. Sunset4. Beach5. Roadtrip6. Kiss7. Cuddles8. Fireplace9.  Blankets10. Dreams11. Holidays12. Anniversary13. Children14. Proposal15. Birthday16. Wedding17. Sharing Food18. Music19. Babysitting20. Cooking21. Dancing22. Tradition23. Stargazing24. Flowers25. Chess26. Hug27. Massage28. Help29. Pride30. Family31. HalloweenMore coming soon!





	1. Puppies

  
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I hate dogs, Charles,” Erik remarks, staring down at the wriggling mutt on Charles’ lap with distaste. It’s slobbering and whining, trying to climb up Charles’ shoulders and probably looking to steal some scraps of food. Erik doesn’t even want to think about how dirty the dog’s paws must be.

Charles just rolls his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. The worst Fluffy will do is lick you while she tries to play.”

“...please tell me you didn’t name the dog Fluffy,” Erik says. Having a dog named Fluffy would probably be the only thing worse than having a dog. Erik crouches down in front of Charles’ chair to get a closer look at the thing and is appropriately horrified when it steps towards him and licks his face.

“Oh, she likes you!” Charles coos. “And yes, her name is Fluffy. You don’t get a say unless you agree to stop complaining about her. Would you like a say?”

“And here I thought you were above blackmail.” 


	2. Kittens

Charles’ worst mistake is, perhaps, ever letting him assume that he really understands Erik. One way or another, Erik always finds some way to catch him off guard and make him feel like a fool. He should see it coming by now, yet somehow never does. It’s why he’s so shocked when he comes home one afternoon to find Erik fast asleep on their bed with a tiny grey kitten curled up by his side. 

The nap is normal enough. Naps are a bit inevitable at their age. The kitten, though? And cuddling? Erik still insists on cuddling with him only when the lights are off. This is entirely unlike him. 

“Erik… Darling… I don’t mean to startle you, but do you know there’s a creature on the bed with you?” Charles asks softly, shaking him awake. 

Erik grunts softly as he opens his eyes and turns to face Charles. The kitten mewls its complaint at its heat source moving and Erik reaches forward to pet it gently, until it calms down. “You mean Luna? I found her on my morning walk. I couldn’t possibly leave her out in the cold.” 

“Luna,” Charles repeats incredulously. “I didn’t take you as the pet kind.” 

“It’s a cat, Charles. The only animal whose moodiness rivals my own,” he points out. 

Charles laughs, thinking it’s a joke. 

(As he finds out a few weeks later, when Luna is somehow trained to hiss at visiting humans and leave her fur all over the X-Uniforms, Erik was most certainly not kidding.) 


	3. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a super late fill for day 3 lol

Friday night sunsets are a chaotic time in the Xavier Lehnsherr household. More often than not, they involve Erik running around, making sure everything is put away and set up for Shabbat, then trying to wrangle children to services or dinner or anything else they might be getting up to that night. Erik isn’t the most strict with his observance, but he does still like to be settled down by the time the sun sets. 

It means more often than not, he’s rushing around right before it to get ready. He doesn’t mind it too much, but it does get a bit exhausting sometimes. Standard protocol in their household is to avoid interacting with him too much until it’s dark outside. 

Erik’s not entirely sure what to expect when he walks home one day after work and finds Charles waiting by the door, fully dressed and ready to head out again. 

Erik frowns, checking the time on his wrist watch. No, he hadn’t completely mistimed his time coming home. “Is something wrong? Dinner at the Pryde’s is next week, isn’t it?” 

“It is. Dinner’s ready, the table is set, the children are all bathed. I thought we could go and watch the sunset together on the porch,” Charles suggests. 

“Oh.” Erik peeks into the living room and indeed, the twins are already in their pajamas and just about ready for the night. It seems the house really is ready without him for once. He nods, holding back a smile. “That would be wonderful.” 

Charles rolls out to the porch, with Erik close behind. As the sun sets, Erik settles on Charles’ lap to watch the sky turn pink and purple and blue and it’s the calmest he’s felt in a long time.


	4. Beaches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also a very late fill for the fourth day!

Pietro hasn’t been to the beach much in his seven years of life. He’s gone once or twice with friends and once with his cousin Kurt and his moms, but it’s never been the sort of destination his family’s been fond of going. Mostly, Wanda told him once, because their dad’s chair can’t really traverse through the sand. Not that their parents ever say that out loud, because talking about the things Dad can’t do because of his chair is a bit taboo. 

He doesn’t mind it. It’s not as though he has an urgent need to be at the beach whenever possible. When his dads pile them into the car one day and take them on a spontaneous beach trip, though? With some special sort of wheelchair that lets Dad come out on the sand with them? Well, that’s probably the best day ever as far as Pietro’s concerned. 

He can’t get enough of running back and forth by the surf, throwing fistfuls of sand at his sisters and ducking out of the way as fast as possible whenever they try to retaliate. Still giggling, Pietro slinks back to his fathers, where they’re being completely too handsy while putting on sunscreen and all sorts of gross, which Pietro interrupts by wiggling up onto Dad’s lap. 

“I think today might be one of our best days ever,” he declares. 

Charles chuckles and gives him a bit of a squeeze as he presses a kiss to the top of his head. “I’m glad to hear it, little man.” 


	5. Road Trip

“You’re telling me you’ve _never_ been on a road trip before?” Charles asks, absolutely disbelieving of the whole thing. 

Erik rolls his eyes, an increasingly common reaction with the more time he spends around Charles. “I don’t know what’s so hard to believe about that.” 

“It’s just… It’s a road trip! It’s the sort of thing I would think everyone’s gone on. If you’d told me you’d never been on a road trip before, I would have made sure this one was more memorable,” Charles insists. 

In all honesty, Erik just wants to lay down in their cheap, terribly uncomfortable motel bed, but he has a feeling Charles won’t drop it until he’s gotten his whole point across, whatever that might be. So he merely shrugs in defeat and looks at Charles curiously. “All right, then. Tell me all the things I’m obviously missing from the classic road trip experience.” 

“A better soundtrack than the news talk shows you constantly play, for starters. A good selection of snacks in the car at all times. Greasy diner food by the side of the road. You’ve gotten nothing but a lot of mindless driving. It’s an absolute sin I’ve let you go so long without the proper experience. We have to fix this at once.” From how distressed he looks about it, Erik would think Charles is dealing with the end of the world here. 

“If I agree to do all your silly road trip standards, will you finally let me get some sleep?” Erik asks. This isn’t a battle he’s going to fight so late at night. 

Charles grins. “Of course! Get some good rest because I’m most certainly waking you up early enough to get breakfast at the nearest diner.” 

“You getting up early? This road trip thing might be worth it after all.” 


	6. Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: queer as a self identifier

Charles likes to pretend he’s all suave and confident, without a care in the world. It’s what everyone expects of him at school, being an Xavier and all that. Mostly, it’s easy to keep the act, since he rarely has anything more than superficial relationships with his classmates. In the front seat of a car in a dark parking lot with Erik Lehnsherr, quite possibly the most attractive boy in their whole school? Much harder to keep up the charade.

They’ve made it quite obvious they’re flirting by now and there’s really no doubt that they’re both queer, but it feels distressingly more serious to kiss or hold hands or anything reserved for couples. That doesn’t stop Charles from reaching over to nudge Erik’s hand with his own and slide closer to him on the car bench.

“You ever done this before?” Erik asks, far more nervous than he ever looks while picking fights at school. Charles can’t blame him. He’s just as nervous. “With another fella, I mean.” 

Charles shakes his head. “Not really. You?” 

“No. Not with, uh, not with any girls, either,” he admits. 

It’s a lot easier to act like he’s not scared when it’s for Erik’s sake to make him feel calmer, so Charles simply smiles and leans forward to press a chaste kiss to Erik’s lips and ease him into all of this. “We’ll learn together.” 


	7. Cuddles

Erik Lehnsherr is an absolute  _ slut  _ for cuddles. It’s a little known secret that Charles is practically forced to take to the grave, because even if he did want to go around telling people that the mighty Magneto loves being spooned in the early hours of the morning… who would ever believe him? Charles is pretty sure that’s part of the reason Erik doesn’t mind being so obvious about it. Any time they’re alone, Erik will immediately plop down on Charles’ lap as if attracted by his powers of magnetism. 

Of course, Charles doesn’t mind it much, but it does make work a little difficult sometimes. 

“Darling, as much as I love you, don’t you think you could go sit on a chair for fifteen minutes?” Charles asks, after an unsuccessful half an hour of trying to grade papers with Erik upon his lap. 

Erik grunts softly and makes no move to get off Charles’ lap. Instead, he actually burrows a little closer and tucks his face away between Charles’ neck and shoulder. That’s a sure sign that he doesn’t plan on getting up until he’s had a cozy enough nap, like a particularly difficult cat. In confirmation, he mumbles, “I’d rather not.”

“Of course not. And I’d rather not hand back these papers to my students too late. I’m running a school, after all,” Charles reminds him. 

“That’s just too bad for them, isn’t it?” Erik says. 

Charles can’t see his smirk, but he can practically hear it and really, he doesn’t even know why he bothers trying to do any work with Erik nearby. He decides to embrace defeat and simply puts the papers down in favor of wrapping his arms around Erik once more. He’s better off enjoying that they get to do this than reading mediocre essays, anyway. 


	8. Fireplace

For a tropical island, Genosha can get quite chilly once the sun’s set. It’s the ocean breeze that cools everything down once the sun is down. It’s nothing like the harsh New York winters Charles had grown accustomed to, of course, but he feels the chill nonetheless. 

Erik is well prepared and on a particularly windy night, he lugs in firewood and lights the little fireplace near the front of his apartment. It’s cozy, Charles to admit, especially when the both of them are curled up on a beat up little futon together, sipping hot chocolate and enjoying a cuddle. 

“Don’t you think the fireplace is a bit of overkill, darling?” Charles asks, glancing down at where Erik’s head is resting on his shoulder. “It’s chilly, but a sweater would get the job done just as well.” 

“Hmm. This is more romantic, though,” Erik points out and truly, Charles can’t dispute that. 


	9. Blankets

Charles isn’t the most responsible when it comes to spending. He’ll be the first to admit that. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate his wealth or understand how very lucky he is to have so much while having worked so little. It’s simply difficult to completely forget the sort of upbringing he’d had, where money gets thrown around without much thought. He’s tried to be better, but he’s still guilty of mysterious things showing up around the house after the occasional late night on Amazon. 

The sudden appearance of blankets around his house, though? That can’t even be explained by questionable purchases. For starters, Charles has no recollection of ever opening them. The random assorted of knitted blankets simply shown up, strewn across his couch and car and bed without explanation. Beyond that, Charles would never in a million years buy blankets so… ugly. 

And they really are ugly. 

Like something some well meaning grandmother would make, with ridiculous colour schemes and patterns. Charles is the first to admit he’s not the most fashionable of men, but he wouldn’t get anything nearly this loud and hideous. Every time Charles finds one, he puts it away deep into his linen closet or rehomes it with Raven and Irene, but a new one always shows up in its place. It’s some strange sort of conspiracy in the house. Charles is beginning to suspect he might have a strange blanket loving ghost in his apartment. 

That sounds absolutely insane, though. Which is why despite his eternal confusion, he doesn’t mention it to anyone, simply making himself content with finding odd blankets every few days. The answer to the mystery comes in the strangest of places. 

He’s not snooping on purpose. He’s just trying to find a clean towel for his morning shower, since he doesn’t stay over at Erik’s apartment nearly often enough to have his own already set up. It’s in trying to reach for a towel that Charles accidentally knocks down a whole basket full of yarn. 

Erik rushes over in a heartbeat, crouching down to pick up everything and fussing to make sure Charles isn’t hurt. “I’m sorry, I should have offered to bring a towel down for you. Are you all right?” 

“I’m fine, Erik. I’m fine. More confused than anything else,” Charles admits. “Is this… yarn?” 

“Oh. Yes. I knit on occasion,” Erik admits, looking horrifically embarrassed by the whole thing. 

And suddenly, Charles finds all the dots connecting in his head. “Erik… The blankets that have been showing up around my apartment… Were those yours, by any chance?” 

Erik chuckles awkwardly and nods. “Um… Yes. I just… I worry sometimes. About you being warm enough while the weather starts cooling down. I figured better for you to have a dozen blankets stowed away in your closet for emergencies than be left needing something if there’s ever a power outage or a particularly cold night. Do you like them?” 

“Oh, Erik…” In truth, Charles thinks they’re the most hideous things he’s ever seen in his life. But the thought of Erik sitting down somewhere, surrounded by yarn and feverishly knitting all of Charles’ new blankets… Well, that makes it spectacularly easy to lie. “I love them, darling.” 


	10. Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little bit of cheating by using the lyrics from Dreams by Fleetwood Mac ;)

Erik grew up with music around his house. His mother loved little more than putting a record on while she did housework and every evening, when his father came home from work, he’d sit in the living room to sip some whiskey with music on in the background. Some of Erik’s fondest memories involve sitting by his father during those, humming along with his sister and learning English through whatever British rock album his father was playing that day.

It’s the reason he’s not fond of silence, even to this day. While he waits for Charles to wake up from his first night over in his apartment, Erik puts on one of the records he remembers from being very young and starts making breakfast for them both. It’s a rather typical morning for him and he doesn’t think much of it.

He simply hums along as he always does, occasionally mumbling along lyrics under his breath. “_Thunder only happens when it’s raining. Players only love you when they’re playing_…”

Distantly, he feels Charles’ wheelchair approach, but he doesn’t turn to face him until Charles is right behind him and puts his hand on his hips. “You know, technically, thunder can most certainly occur without rain. It’s only lightning that goes hand in hand with it.”

“Oh, shush. It’s just a song,” Erik chastises fondly. With his powers, he lowers the volume slightly, though he leaves it playing.

“Of course, of course. Do I get to see you shaking your hips in teeny shorts and singing to the classics every morning I’m here? Because I might just never leave,” he warns.

Erik laughs and swats at him with a tea towel. “Hands off or we’ll never get breakfast.” 


	11. Holidays

Finding Charles in the library isn’t an unusual sight. It might be where Charles spends the most time, especially since starting to get work done on his thesis. Erik’s almost sure that he and Charles have had more dates in library study rooms than anywhere else. 

What Erik isn’t so used to is walking into their typical study room and finding Charles bent over a handful of textbooks from the religion department. Erik frowns and tries to lean in closer, which Charles responds to only by closing the books in an embarrassed rush. 

“Nothing!” he says, before Erik even has a chance to ask anything. 

Erik frowns. “That doesn’t sound like something someone doing nothing would say. What’s all this? Are you auditing yet another class, Charles? Seriously?” 

“No.” Charles sighs and slumps slightly in his chair. “You’ve been going into the city with your family a lot these last few weeks for holidays and… well, I realized I don’t really know when anything is. If it’s important for you, I want to know. So I was doing research.” 

“Oh.” Erik pulls up a chair next to Charles and takes his hand in his own. “You could have asked me, you know.” 

“I know. I just…. Was hoping I could surprise you or something. I thought it would be romantic,” he explains. 

Erik leans forward to kiss away the disappointed pout. “Motek, the fact you want to learn at all is already the most romantic thing you could possibly be doing. I’ll bring you to dinner this Friday. Mama will adore you.” 


	12. Anniversary

It’s a nice feeling to look back at the years and realize he’s been together with someone for longer than not. It’s an even nicer feeling when that someone is a person Erik had once believed would be out of his reach forever. 

Erik wakes up to sun across his face and sees Charles laying beside him, as handsome as he was half a century ago. Less hair and a few more wrinkles perhaps, but Erik’s not as young as he once was either. Even now as he stretches out his back and leans over to kiss Charles good morning, his bones ache with a weariness of age he would have never imagined during his prideful days of youth. 

“Mmm. Good morning, darling,” Charles murmurs, blinking awake. He reaches up to stroke the side of Erik’s face and Erik is all too happy to reach up and cup his hand against him here. The cool metal of Charles’ wedding ring against his cheek is a feeling he’ll never tire of. 

“Happy fiftieth anniversary, Liebling.” 


	13. Children

“David! David, leave that poor frog alone!” 

“Pietro! Slow down!” 

It’s hardly a surprise when moments later, the two kids collide into each other full speed and topple over. The frog is no longer in David’s hands, at least, a fact which Charles is infinitely grateful for. David, however, looks dangerously close to crying, though, which is the last thing Charles wants. David’s powers are chaotic enough when he’s calm. They don’t need a cranky superpowered five year old in the park right now. 

“Oh, Davey, see this is why we have to be careful,” Charles murmurs, crouching down to pick David up and check for any damage. Just a skinned knee, it seems, which isn’t too terrible, but probably feels as such to David. He looks over to the other little boy, pleased to see that he’s not too badly hurt either. 

Some other man, the second boy’s father presumably, gets down on the floor as well and looks to them with concern. “I’m sorry. My boy here hasn’t quite gotten the hang of slowing down yet. Is your son okay?” 

“Yes, yes. Just a few scrapes. Nothing some water and Band-Aids won’t fix,” Charles says. He looks up from David at the other father and is pleasantly surprised to notice he’s quite handsome. (Not that he notices such things while out with his son, of course, but if he did, he would have certainly noticed that.) 

“Here.” The father reaches into his bag and pulls out some antiseptic wipes and bandages. “When you have three little tornadoes of destruction like me, you get used to diffusing disasters.” 

“I’m faster than a tornado!” the little boy complains. 

“Unfortunately true,” the man agrees. He pulls a few more bandages out of the bag, though he stops this time to scrawl something on the packaging before handing it over to Charles. “Come on, Pietro. Let’s go find your sisters.” 

With that, he goes off, and Charles checks the writing on the back. He’s a bit surprised but very happy to find a name and phone number on the back. 


	14. Proposal

“No!” 

That’s… not the reaction Charles expects to get when he proposes to Erik over one of their chess games. He’d been a nervous wreck about proposing, of course, but he’d never really thought that Erik might actually say no. Charles looks a little lost as he stays sat down, holding open the ring box. 

“...no? You… don’t want to marry me?” Charles asks, unsure of what the protocol in this situation even is. 

“Of course I want to marry you. I mean no, you can’t be doing this today, because…” Erik sighs and digs around in his pocket until pulling out a ring box of his own. “I was going to propose to you as well.” 

“Oh. Oh!” Charles laughs, because this is an utterly ridiculous situation, isn’t it? 

Erik pouts a bit, putting the ring down and shoving at Charles’ shoulder good naturedly. “Don’t laugh. It’s not that funny.” 

“It is a little funny, darling. What are the chances?” Charles chuckles. “So I take it the answer is yes?” 

“Of course it is, you fool.” 


	15. Birthday

Erik’s never been one for celebrating birthdays. It seems pointless to him. Birthdays are events to celebrate with friends and family and that’s something Erik’s life has always been depressingly lacking in. Even now that he lives a relatively peaceful life with Charles, his grown children, and the other members of their community, he’s grown so used to letting the day come and go without much fanfare, that anything else would feel strange. 

Not that it’s ever stopped Charles from noticing. 

He’s good about not doing anything too over the top and respecting Erik’s wishes to keep the day quiet. But he still wakes up Saturday morning with Charles’ kisses on his forehead and a tray of breakfast on the table beside him. 

“Happy birthday, darling,” Charles murmurs, smiling at him. 

“Mm. Is that today? Well. At least someone remembered,” Erik teases as he sits up. “You’re as ridiculous every single year. I’m almost starting to grow used to it.” 

“Perfect. Next year we’ll throw a grand party and invite the entire island.” Charles laughs. 

Erik rolls his eyes. Typical Charles. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.” 


	16. Wedding

Her little boy is married. Edie has been dreaming of this day since he was a little boy and somehow, she’s not prepared for it at all. She’s a sobbing mess halfway through the ceremony and by the end of it, she’s glad she hadn’t bothered letting Ruth put even the simplest of makeup on her. It would have been a mess by now. As soon as the ceremony ends, her sweet boy is sitting at her side and her new son in law at her other side. 

“Mama, why are you crying? It’s a happy day!” Erik insists, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hugging her tightly against him. 

“I know, boychik, I know,” she assures him. “These are happy tears.” 

Charles smiles and leans over to kiss her cheek. “As long as they’re happy tears, we can allow it.” 

“Such a nice boy. I think I’m even luckier than Erik, having you as a son in law,” Edie says. She laughs wetly, though the tears, and pulls them both into a big hug. “Such lovely, lovely boys. Oh, I love weddings. Love them even more when they’re between two nice boys.”


	17. Sharing Food

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: references to Erik's childhood trauma, food

Scarcity was a fact of Erik’s childhood. He doesn’t resent the fact or make up fantasies in his mind of some different sort of upbringing. It’d be silly to. Remembering the horrors of his childhood is what pushes him forward in what he does. It made him stronger when he needed to be and that’s what matters in the end. 

Still, for all he tries to move on and not care, it’s not as though he can completely forget such a large part of his life. It’s stuck with him, whether he wants to or not. One of the more innocuous things - better than nightmares, at least - is his habit of fussing so much over whether the people he cares for have eaten enough. Charles doesn’t say anything about it when they travel together, but he does give him a few odd glances whenever Erik abstains from eating until is finished and content. Odd glances are fine. Erik can live with odd glances. 

It’s once they’ve moved into the mansion that it becomes more of an issue. Not because there’s so many of them, Erik still only really cares about Charles’ well being, but because the others start to notice. Erik wouldn’t care if Charles hadn’t pulled him aside in the kitchen one night. 

“You know, everyone’s starting to wonder why you take ages with dinner,” Charles mentions, crowding Erik up against a counter. 

Erik shrugs. “Let them wonder.” 

“Darling…” Charles sighs. “I know you worry and it’s very sweet, but you need to eat just as much as I do. What about a compromise? We can share each other’s plates, hmm? And we can both be sure the other is eating enough.” 

“Sharing? That’ll look rather odd, don’t you think?” he points out. 

“Odder than sitting in front of a full plate of food and doing nothing for half an hour?” 

“...Point taken. I suppose I could learn to share.” 


	18. Music

Putting on a record is one of the best ways of distracting Charles from his work. It’s difficult to concentrate with Bennie and the Jets blasting and Erik being an absolute fool while singing and dancing along. All the grading and paperwork for the school has to get done eventually, Erik’s all right acknowledging that. But Charles gets far too caught up in it sometimes and Erik doesn’t take too kindly to being ignored for too long. 

“One day, someone’s going to walk in while you’re being ridiculous like this and you’ll lose your entire reputation,” Charles says, not even looking up from his desk. 

Erik laughs as he hops up on a couch to gyrate his hips, like he’s some generic rocker in the 60s. “As if I don’t make sure the door is locked before I come bother you.” 

“How could I ever forget?” Charles sighs. He’s gotten a good deal of work done already. Better to put an end to Erik’s antics. “I think you’d look nice in electric boots.” 

“I think so, too,” Erik agreed, grinning as he goes to sit at the edge of Charles’ desk. “Shall I switch over to some more romantic Elton now that you’re done with work?” 

“I have a feeling you won’t take no for an answer.” 


	19. Babysitting

Babysitting a teleporter is its own sort of chaos. Erik thought he was prepared for anything, after having four kids of his own and a hand at helping Charles with David’s more tumultuous teenage years. Like an absolute fool, he’d accepted Raven’s request to babysit without batting an eye. He’d been confident. Confident! 

Now, two hours later, Kurt is hanging off the ceiling fan by his tail and giggling down at Charles and Erik. He takes great pleasure in causing them grief. A sadistic sort of pleasure. Erik worries for this one when he grows bigger. He really does. Any toddler with such a streak of pure evil has to be carefully monitored, lest they grow too powerful and overtake them all some day. 

Erik lunges up to grab Kurt, but, just like the dozens of times before, he disappears a split second before with a poof of smoke. With a frustrated groan, Erik falls back on the floor and lays down across the carpet. Charles looks at him with an insulting sort of pity, so Erik tugs his ankles until Charles comes tumbling down beside him. 

“We are  _ never  _ babysitting for your sister again,” Erik insists, trying to pretend he doesn’t hear Kurt’s mischievous giggling from the next room over. 

“Let’s not make plans for the future until we’re sure we can survive tonight.” 


	20. Cooking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: food mention

Charles is an absolutely hopeless cook. There’s really no other way around it. Considering his upbringing and all the cuisines he was exposed to growing up, he should be able to throw together at the very least a simple meal. In reality, though, he can barely make some scrambled eggs without nearly setting the house on fire. It doesn’t stop him from trying, though. It should, but it doesn’t. 

He wakes up on Erik’s birthday morning determined to make French toast and poached eggs and some homemade whipped cream to wake Erik with. It’s an ambitious plan. It’s a plan destined to fail. It’s a plan Charles is determined to try anyway. 

He only manages to set all the ingredients on the table and turn on the stove for the French toast before there’s smoke all over their living room and Erik’s wandered to the kitchen to see what’s going on. 

“...I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation as to why you’re in the kitchen without adequate adult supervision?” Erik asks. Even half asleep he’s still a smug bastard. 

Charles pouts as he hurries to open some windows and turn on a fan. “I wanted to surprise you. As a birthday present.” 

“A burnt down apartment has always been at the top of my wish list. How’d you ever manage to guess it?” he teases. 

“Meanie,” Charles grumbles. “Any chance this is salvageable?” 

Erik glances at the damage before shaking his head and kissing Charles’ cheek. “Not at all. We’re better off getting dressed and heading to the diner. But it’s wonderful sentiment. You sure know how to make a boy feel special.” 


	21. Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> classic lil dancer and boxer AU

Erik’s a serious dancer. From his very first ballet class at seven years old, Erik’s always been an incredibly serious dancer. No fooling around in rehearsal, keeping strict watch over what he fuels his body with, putting in extra hours to rehearse whenever possible. If Erik wanted to fool around with his dance career, he would have picked up modern dancing, instead. 

Which is why it’s no surprise that instead of finding a nice, perfectly serious dancer like himself to fall in love with, he’d ended up with Charles Xavier. Loud, party boy, irresponsible boxer Charles Xavier. Erik is almost sure he’s getting punished for something he did in a previous life. 

He doesn’t get completely distracted and hurt himself on a jump when Charles strolls into the rehearsal studio, but it does come close. Erik picks himself up off the ground and turns towards where Charles is predictably still wearing his boxing shoes on top of the marley. 

“Charles. How many times have I told you to take your shoes off before coming in here?” Erik asks. He lets out a very long sigh as he pauses the music playing with a wave of his hand and strolls over to Charles. 

“Oops.” Charles shrugs. He doesn’t look the least bit guilty about it. “I was just too excited to see you.” 

Off in a corner, Erik hears Angel whispering to one of the newer dancers. “That’s Charles, Erik’s boxer boyfriend. They’re kind of cute, honestly.” 

Erik turns on his heel to stare her down. “Please never acknowledge that I’m dating a boxer again and I’ll end rehearsal early.” 

Needless to say, it’s an easy decision to make despite Charles’ whining. 


	22. Tradition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: alcohol mention

In theory, family traditions are wonderful. Something sweet and memorable to keep their family close and to give the kids some memories to remember their childhood by when they're all grown up. In practice, a monthly game night in the Xavier-Lehnsherr household is an absolute recipe for disaster. 

“That’s cheating!” Pietro whines, narrowly avoiding the board as he jumps to his feet, about two seconds from starting to fight his brother.

David grins as he moves his piece exactly the amount of spaces he needed to win tonight’s game. “How’s it cheating? I rolled the dice just like you.” 

“But you’re telekinetic! You probably made it fall right where you wanted it to,” he insists. 

“In that case, why aren’t you accusing Lorna and Wanda of cheating?” he asks, standing up as well to look at Pietro in the eye. “The dice are metal and Wanda could use her magic when you weren’t looking.” 

“Hey! We wouldn’t cheat. Unlike you dumb boys, we don’t need to cheat to win,” Lorna scoffs. At her side, Wanda nods in agreement. 

David laughs. “You clearly do, seeing as you didn’t win tonight!” 

Off to the side, Charles pours both himself and Erik more wine because they both very badly need it. “Remind me again why we though a family game night would be a good idea?” 

“Because we’re idiotic masochists?” Erik suggests. 

“Ah. Right.” 


	23. Stargazing

The Westchester property is larger than any one person should ever own, but Erik has to admit it has its benefits. Namely, how very beautiful it sometimes is.One of Erik’s favorite things on the warm summer nights is to go up to the roof and lay down to look up at the stars. Erik’s life hasn’t given him much time to simply admire beautiful things, but he hasn’t completely lost the ability to appreciate such things either. He enjoys looking at the stars most of all. He’d never gotten to see very many stars as a child, given how much time he’d spent in cities. 

Charles laughs softly when Erik tells him as such. “You’re all city boy, aren’t you?” 

“Better than being a rich boy with a country house,” Erik teases, rolling on his side so he can tug Charles closer for a kiss. 

“Mean.” Charles huffs. 

Erik has no intentions of apologizing, but he is more than happy to keep Charles distracted through kisses for as long as the moonlight will let them. 


	24. Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to colette for the inspiration of this one!

Sometimes, one has to appreciate the little things in life. That’s what Erik tells himself anytime he opens his door and finds yet another flower delivery from Charles. At least he’s receiving these at home and Charles isn’t there to see how horribly Erik’s allergies to flowers are. More importantly, he doesn’t see how very not attractive Erik looks with red eyes, a nose full of snot, and hives all over his arms. 

He should have probably said something a long while back, but it’s been going on for months now and really, it’s far too late to say something, isn’t it? Charles’ silly habit of sending a weekly delivery of flowers to Erik’s apartment would be cute if it didn’t mean Erik hasn’t breathed freely in his home for a long time. There’s only so fast he can be rid of so many flowers. 

Still, at least he’s gotten used to the routine. Answer the door Thursday evening, thank the delivery man, put the flowers in a quarantined corner, then pass them along to his mother or toss them in the neighborhood compost. The plan relies very heavily on Charles  _ not  _ being there during flower delivery day, which is why Erik’s heart skips a beat - and not in a fun way! - when he opens the door this Thursday and finds Charles at the door. 

“Happy six months since our becoming official!” he declares, leaning forward to kiss him. 

Erik eyes the bouquet wearily and nods. “Yes… Happy six months.” 

Charles lets himself in and arranges the flowers on the coffee table, while Erik wonders if he can get away with simply not breathing for a while. Can’t inhale pollen if he’s not inhaling at all, right? Surely he can pull through for however long Charles is planning on being here. 

He, in fact, cannot. 

A few minutes later, he’s already sniffling and scratching at his arms and no matter how subtle he tries to be, Charles picks up on it and steps in closer to press the back of his hand to Erik’s forehead. “Darling, are you sick? You don’t look so good.” 

“No, I’m not sick. Charles… I’m not really sure how to tell you this, but…” Erik sighs. “Motek, I’m allergic to flowers. They’re lovely, really, but you’ve spent the last six months giving me chronic hay fever.” 

“...please tell me you’re joking.” 

“I wish I were.” 

“Six months and you didn’t say a word? Erik Lehnsherr, you are the most ridiculous man I know. I’ll send chocolate from now on.”


	25. Chess

“Hmm. Could we meet up during my office hours, perhaps? Charles and I are meant to get together in about five minutes for a round of chess.” 

Erik’s not sure if the younger kids these days have very strong feelings against chess, but as soon as he says that, a handful of students look horrified and rush out of the room without another word. Tommy is giggling to himself as he tries to head out, so Erik is quick to grab him by the shoulder and pull him to a side. Tommy has always been the best of his grandchildren at putting Erik out of his misery when he doesn’t understand the latest strange trend or joke or meme or whatever they’re called these days. 

“Thomas. Is there some new….  _ meme  _ about chess I should know about?” Erik asks, frowning sternly at his grandson. (But not so sternly in reality, because Erik is hopelessly soft for the twins and Luna.)

Tommy snickers. “C’mon, Opa… You can’t be that clueless, can you?” 

“Respect your elders and just answer the question, Thomas,” Erik insists. 

“Well, you and Grandpa are always disappearing to play chess together and everyone who knew you when you were younger says you used to do it way more often, so…” Tommy shrugs. “Everyone around the school is always joking that chess really means sex, but it’s not as funny when you say it, because… well, it’s kinda gross.” 

Erik’s heart cycles through several emotions very quickly. Horror, disgust, acceptance, and finally, realization of what a wonderful opportunity he has at his hands. He’s absolutely giddy as he packs up his things to go meet with Charles. “Oh, this is wonderful. Charles and I will never let this meme die.”

The last thing he hears as he departs to Charles’ study is Tommy yelling after him, “Please stop staying meme!” 


	26. Hug

Charles prepares himself for a very private relationship when he and Erik start dating. Not that he thinks badly of Erik, but he just doesn’t seem like the sort who would enjoy very much public affection. 

That’s why Erik’s absolute adoration for PDA is the most surprising part of their relationship. Erik’s an absolute fiend for cuddles and affection in public. Enough that even Charles is sometimes unsure of how to go about it. 

The latest time Erik surprises him was that very morning, while Charles was making breakfast. Not even alone, but in front of all the other kids. It was one of those days where Erik took one of his longer runs and only just came back into the house while Charles makes breakfast for all of them. Instead of going up to his room immediately to shower and change, Erik wraps his arms around Charles from behind, pulling him into an affectionate hug as he presses kisses to his shoulder and the back of his neck. 

“Mmm, it smells wonderful. Set aside a mug of coffee for me,” he murmurs, giving him a squeeze and a hug before disappearing upstairs to his bedroom. 

Charles is just slightly embarrassed as he turns to face the children while moving a plate of food onto the table. Alex, in particular, looks particularly horrified. “Did… Did someone kidnap Erik and replace him while he was on his run?” 


	27. Massage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit of a loose interpretation of today's prompt!

Having a grumpy sort of boyfriend isn’t the worst thing in the world. Charles knew what he was getting into, to be fair. Erik makes absolutely no efforts to hide his grumpiness before they’d gotten together. Charles had been prepared to simply deal with it and be content knowing that there were other ways in which Erik showed his love. That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t absolutely ecstatic when he seemed to find the one fail proof way of getting Erik to turn into absolute mush.

No matter how big and scary Erik might look while scowling and standing at his full height, it’s hard to ever be intimidated by him when he has a lot of experience with Erik sat down next to him, all but purring like a kitten whenever Charles reaches up to scratch his scalp. Which is often. There’s few things Charles likes more than spoiling his boy by giving him some affectionate head rubs.

“You’re just all bark and no bite, aren’t you?” Charles murmurs, running his fingers along Erik’s head with some pressure to help him relax further. They’re laid up on their couch, recovering from a long day of social interactions after dinner with some old friends. Really, Erik’s the one recovering, because Charles is still as much of a social butterfly as when he was a university student.

“Shush,” Erik murmurs. It’s hard to think of it as having any bite when Erik doesn’t even bother opening his eyes and instead just leans in further to Charles’ touches. “No one would ever believe you about this anyway.”

“You’re right. Luckily, I have no plans of sharing you anytime soon.” 


	28. Help

Neither of them is very good at asking for help. Not for the simple things like silly little chores and things around the house and certainly not for the more important things like one of them going through a difficult time. It has a nasty habit of blowing up in their faces and making for tense nights. Normally, Erik would ignore it until they’d both forgotten and they could go back to normal, but tonight, there’s only so much tossing and turning he can do while pretending he doesn’t realize Charles is still awake next to him. 

When it gets to be too much, Erik turns onto his side to face Charles and mumbles, “You know, there’s no need to argue over stupid things. If you’d just told me you were having a frustrating week at physical therapy, I would have dropped the subject. Or done my best to help you get through it.” 

“You’re one to talk,” Charles snorts, turning his head to face Erik. “You’re worse than me when it comes to putting on a brave face through the worst of things.” 

“I could be better at it,” he admits. “We both could. Why don’t we try? Really try, I mean. For each other’s sake.” 

“Here I thought the great Erik Lehnsherr would explode on the spot if he ever asked for help,” Charles mumbles. After another moment, though, he nods, already looking significantly less upset from the day. 

Erik laughs as he leans over to kiss Charles’ cheek. “If I explode from that, so do you, so we’ll do it together.” 


	29. Pride

If there’s one thing a lifetime of being pushed down has taught Erik it’s how to get right back up every time. He’s gotten in trouble plenty of times for being perhaps too proud and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. That’s why it’s particularly frustrating for him to see how difficult Charles finds it to be proud of himself, but even just to simply accept who he is. 

Erik’s as patient as he can be, but the way Charles flinches when Erik refers to him as his boyfriend would make anyone a bit frustrated. “Do you see us as something different?” 

“It’s not that. It’s just… That makes it sound very official, doesn’t it? It’s a very particular sort of man who has a boyfriend,” Charles says. 

“Yes,” Erik agrees. “The sort of man who likes men. Which you do, clearly.”

“I suppose so.” Charles sighs. “It’s difficult to say out loud. Makes it feel more real.” 

Erik resists the urge to point out that after sleeping together, saying it out loud doesn’t change much. He just reaches to take Charles’ hand and give it an encouraging squeeze. “I know. But the world doesn’t care whether you own up to it or not, so you might as well be proud.” 

“I’m not sure I know how,” he admits. 

“Luckily, you have the best teacher in the world.”


	30. Family

Anya is Erik’s first. She’s not entirely planned, just the result of his and Magda’s honeymoon. Erik’s not upset, though. Fatherhood suits him and Anya’s not even one by the time Magda’s pregnant again, with twins this time. (An ocean away, Gabby and Charles have David together, though Erik won’t know for several years.)

Magda and Erik’s divorce comes along when the children are 8 and 7. It’s a big change, but somehow, not much seems to change at all. He’s lucky enough that he and Magda are still good friends and raising the children together, so his family doesn’t get any smaller, it’s just restructured a bit. Which he’s glad for, seeing as he’s always loved having a big family. When he gets into his first long term relationship since Magda with Charles and finds his family’s grown to include a stepson, Erik couldn’t be happier. 

(Even if David is probably the grumpiest teenager Erik’s ever met, himself included.) 

Four children is probably enough for anyone, but Erik’s absolutely overjoyed when an orphaned green haired little girl named Lorna makes her way into their lives. The other children aren’t too pleased about having yet another person in their New York apartment, but Erik’s far too pleased with his large, perfect little family to be bothered by a little grumpiness from the kids. 

It wouldn’t be a proper Lehnsherr-Xavier family if there wasn’t a fair deal of pouting. 


	31. Halloween

Erik’s not sure he understands the point of Halloween. He never celebrated it as a child, found it unappealing while in university, and even if he were interested in dressing up and acting foolish, Purim holds far more appeal than anything about Halloween. His children, though - American as can be from being born and raised here - absolutely adore Halloween. Candy, dressing up, an excuse to stay up past their bedtimes. Erik always feels out of his element on those nights and more often than not, sends them off to be with friends for the night. 

When he mentions this to his boyfriend two days before Halloween, Charles is absolutely horrified. Apparently, Halloween is one of his favorite holidays. He gets the determined sort of look in his eyes that makes Erik know it’s better not to get in his way, which is why he doesn’t even try arguing when Charles insists he has to leave the house on the 31st until the evening. He figures Charles will help the kids dress up, decorate the living room a bit, and perhaps give the kids far too much candy. 

What he doesn’t expect is to come home to find the entire front of his house decorated with fake spiders and pumpkins, a fake skeleton family on the lawn, and a literal smoke machine filling the entrance and living room with a layer of smog that Erik supposes is meant to be spooky. 

He pushes aside some fake - hopefully - spider webs to get inside and finds Charles in the living room, dressed as some sort of mad scientist. He thinks. Erik’s not entirely up to date on his Halloween costumes. Pietro is in a white sheet with a glowing yellow nose and dog collar and Erik’s afraid to ask if he’s a ghost dog, because it seems too obvious. Wanda is in some sort of…. Skeleton suit, which Erik vaguely recognizes from one of the Disney movies the twins like to play on repeat from October to December. Lorna is dressed as a zombie cloth doll Woman? Perhaps? Which… okay, definitely that Disney movie, but Erik is more confused now, no doubt about it. 

“Erik! You’re right on time!” Charles says eagerly. 

Pietro grins and runs up to him to hug his leg. “Dad! Charles got together a group costume for all of us! He’s Dr. Finkelstein and I’m Zero and Wanda’s Jack Skellington and Lorna’s Sally and you’re-” 

“Shh!” Wanda interjects. “It’s a surprise, Pietro!” 

“A surprise. How fun,” Erik says dryly, eyeing Charles with concern. He has a feeling this won’t be good. 

Lorna hands him a dark bag with her best set of puppy eyes, which is another terrible, terrible sign that whatever costume is in that bag is horrendous. “Here you go, Daddy. R’member, it’s Halloween and it’s a holiday and we’re all going trick or treating together and you can’t say no!” 

More worried than before Erik opens the bag and glances down. Inside is… something very fuzzy and very red. As Erik takes it out, he realizes it’s a Santa Claus costume. Santa Claus. From Christmas. The Christian holiday in  _ December _ . When Erik looks up again, there’s four sets of painfully adorable, pleading eyes staring at him, and Lord help him, he really would do anything for his family, won’t he?

Even dress up as Santa Claus for some made up candy holiday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this we've come to the end of our fun!
> 
> If you enjoy holiday/seasonal themed fandom events, the Brotherhood server is having an X-Men holiday Xchange. Link to join the server is below if you are interested! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Something fluffy to cast away negative thoughts and bad spaces? Yes please! 
> 
> for questions, prompts, or chatting I can be found on tumblr at [sebbym17](http://sebbym17.tumblr.com/) but mostly lurking around Discord [particularly, THIS X-Men server](https://discord.gg/WYNyhb2) talking about Magneto, cherik, and crying about comics. So anyways join me over there if you're all about those ~mag vibes~


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